Well the strong rumor about Full Tilt Poker in talks with Stations Casinos panned out to be true. Yesterday, March 30 2011 Fertitta Interactive and Full Tilt Poker agreed on a partnership to operate an Online Poker site if/when there is federal approval. Fertitta Interactive is co-owned by the Fertitta brothers Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta (co owners of Station Casinos and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)). The UFC is also a sponsor and provides huge prizes in The Make Poker Legal Online Poker Room. Tom Breitling and Tim Poster (founders of Travelscape which was eventually sold to Expedia.com) are also part of the partnership. Breitling has said that the partnership will only back on legislation on a federal level and not Assembly Bill 258. Assembly Bill 258 is the Nevada Legislature and authorizes the state to legalize Internet poker; which is currently being debated in the state of Nevada. Pokerstars is backing Assembly Bill 258; maybe this is why this new partnership with Full Tilt and Fertitta Interactive is not.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this past Sunday’s finale of Full Tilt Poker’s Challenge Durrrr and who the real winner is. The Durrrr Challenge gave online poker players who play on Full Tilt Poker a chance to play against Tom Dwan aka “Durrrr”. In February players started to earn points while they played cash games over a two week time period. The top 750 poker players would then play in a series of freerolls. Once the final 9 players were determined, they would eventually be a part of the “matrix”. Those 9 players would play 4 sit n go’s against each other to determine who would go on to play Tom Dwan

United States District Court Judge James Nowlin has dismissed all claims by Deliverance Poker against Michael Mizrachi, 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final tablist and Tiltware, LLC, the ownership behind Full Tilt Poker. On March 22nd in the US District Western District of Texas in Austin, Judge Nowlin’s orders on the case and & a full review of his actions. Judge Nowlin ordered that Deliverance Poker’s case be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that – if there were new evidence – the case could be reheard in Federal or state court. Every pending motion as of last week were rendered moot and declared by Judge Nowlin as “hereby closed”.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Have you guys have enough but this Barry Bonds perjury trial? I know I have, and I’m sick and tired of this witchhunt waste of taxpayers money shit. Give Bonds a 4 pitch intentional free pass, and be done with it already!

So Bonds might have lied about using steroids, and I really stress the words “might have”.

Did anyone really care back in 2001 when Bonds smacked 73 home runs? As I recall, people were glued to their TV sets just to see how many home runs he might hit. We were all wondering “will he break McGwire’s record?” “And if he break McGwire’s record, would he be able to hit over 75 home runs?” How many people back then were all that obsessed with whether or not Barry bonds was taking steroids?

PRESS RELEASE: LAS VEGAS–Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN) announced today that it has entered into a strategic relationship with PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker business.

The companies will first work to secure the passage of federal legislation that will finally and conclusively define illegal internet gambling, provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to stop illegal internet gambling, protect consumers by establishing a robust regulatory environment for the safe operation of online poker by experienced operators, and establish a regime for the assessment and collection of taxes.

Charlotte is not the sort of fan who shouts at the TV, but if she does have a gripe, it’s usually with Lamar Odom. She complains that the Lakers forward and husband of reality TV star Khloe Kardashian, “isn’t energetic enough.”Her eyesight is going though, Tony tells me, so Charlotte sometimes blames Odom for things that aren’t even his fault. “She’ll get mad that Lamar is missing a basket when in reality he actually made it.”

We at Make Poker Legal, along with my brother Mike Matusow, fully support their efforts in helping children in their community!! We encourage more people to get involved and give something back to those in need. Many of us have it good in this country, while others are suffering. Please consider filling out the pledge form HERE to help those in need!! More info about The Fort Collins Series of Poker Charity Poker Tournaments can be found at the following link; http://www.fcsop.com

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Poker News Daily independently confirmed the rumors that the Cake Poker Network has been sold to PokerListings. Two anonymous sources inside the poker industry have verified the sale, which Bluff Magazine reported will likely be completed in the next 15 days. One source called the transaction a “conflict of interest” since Poker Listings promotes several different online poker sites, including PokerStars and UB.com. Cake Poker is PokerListings’ top ranked site and boasts an overall score of 8.2 out of 10.

Monday, March 21, 2011

There has been a lot of talk lately about the Chicago Bulls being the Eastern conference favorites now. A lot of people feel that with Boston giving up Kendrick Perkins, that they are no longer the favorites in the Eastern conference. Many people are picking the Chicago Bulls. and while The Chicago Bulls are a very young and talented team, they suffer from one thing that plagues younger teams;

Are you a successful poker player? If you’re a professional gambler, we have news that will get your blood pumping. According to a recent article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal and a leading poker tax authority, professional gamblers can now deduct business expenses, even in the event of an overall loss. Now, out of pocket expenses like driving to and from a casino and any fees that may be incurred along the way can be written off as expenses.

A side benefit to the ruling, according to the Review-Journal, is that it legitimizes gambling as a profession. The article quotes Steve Johnson, a professor at the University of Nevada’s Boyd School of Law, as saying, “What the decision says is that gambling is a business trade that is not any different than any other profession. A professional gambler can deduct business expenses.”

John Campbell (R-CA) and Barney Frank (D-MA) introducing the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. The bill’s number was not known at press time.

The news was released around 6:45pm ET on Thursday and the measure strongly resembles HR 2267, which was rubber stamped out of the House Financial Services Committee last July by a 2:1 margin. HR 2267, despite its approval, did not see time on the House floor and a last-ditch attempt to attach an online poker-only version of it from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was also unsuccessful.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Drama seems to follow Prahlad Friedman wherever he goes. Just months after his latest spectacle – signing a sponsorship with UB.com – Friedman called out two of the top players in the game for account sharing against him during several online sessions. Friedman brought the situation to light on Twitter late last week, accusing Isaac Haxton and Justin Bonomo of switching accounts while playing against him to disguise their identities. He used examples of stats and graphs from PokerTableRatings.com as evidence. It was a strong accusation and the whole poker world took notice.

Said Friedman on Twitter (see below for more images), “Isaac Haxton and Justin Bonomo share and switch accounts often. Was playing a random guy and looked up his stats. Identical to Hax … Haxton knows I don’t want to play him head up. So scummy… They have been doing this to me for years. No more.” Friedman claimed that Haxton was playing under a different screen name than the one he was registered for on UB.com. He said the account “XXTRMSK8RX” had different playing styles day-to-day and the stats from his losing days matched those of Haxton. “‘xxtrmsk8rx’ is for sure Haxton and the dramatic style change is indicative of when I played ‘zeejustin’ on Full Tilt. Same exact thing happened,” Tweeted Freidman.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Will the Lakers 3 peat this year? The key for the Lakers are the B’S. In part, I do mean the Laker big men. But the 2 B’s are Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.

Kobe Bryant without a doubt is probably the most complete player in the NBA, talent wise that is. However, Kobe’s worst enemy is himself. When Kobe’s ego takes over. He plays on sheer emotion and does not use his head. When this happens, Kobe tends to be more of a one on one player. He will tend to hold the ball too much, look for an opening to attack in the lane, which allows defenses to set up help rotations quicker.

Well it’s that time this season again, March Madness is upon us! Brackett challenges, office watercooler discussions, failed predictions, and always a Cinderella in The Dance. It looks like this year, Duke will not have such an easy road to the final four. It seems like in times past the tournament selection committee gave Duke an easy ride. This year Duke was made the 1 seed out West, and has to contend with the likes of Uconn, a very hot basketball team, San Diego State University, whose only two losses this year came to BYU. As well, Texas, who has had a very hard stretch at times, but they are very talented basketball team. Those round out the top four in the Western Brackett. It looks to me that Duke will have their work cut out for them if they wish to make it back to the final four. The return of Freshmen Guard Kyrie Irving, who has been out since injuring his big toe back on December 4, will be very key for Duke.

It’s not every day that poker garners the attention of the mainstream media. On Monday, the New York Times published a rare online poker article focusing on the proliferation of bots.

For those of you new to the game, “bots,” short for “robots,” are computer programs designed to play poker automatically at the virtual tables. All of the actions that a bot takes – bet, raise, call, fold, etc. – are pre-determined based on the play that has already occurred during a hand. Whatever the programmer has coded into the bot is what it will do. Gabriel Dance, the article’s author, explains this early on in the piece.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Last week, Nevada State Assemblyman William Horne introduced bill AB258 that would legalized online poker within Nevada for all state and foreign poker room operators. The bill, if voted into law and signed by the governor, would require Nevada State gambling regulators to develop a new set of guidelines to accommodate online poker rooms.

Monday, March 14, 2011

For those of you wanting to help The Salvation Army’s earthquake relief work in Japan, you can support our efforts in several ways. 100% of your funds will be sent to The Salvation Army in Japan for their disaster response efforts.

•Donate online at http://donate.salvationarmyusa.org•Call 1-800-SAL-ARMY•Text the words “Japan” or “Quake” to 80888 to make a $10 donation. (Please ensure that you respond “YES” to the Thank You message you receive or else your donation will not go through.)•By mail: Send your check, marked “Japan earthquake relief” toThe Salvation Army World Service OfficeInternational Relief FundPO Box 630728Baltimore, MD 21263-0728

*Many of you have asked about volunteer opportunities to assist relief efforts in Japan. At this time, The Salvation Army is not in need of volunteers. We will be sure to post an update to our blog if this changes.*

Thank you for generous support and continuous prayers for those in Japan. To learn more about our relief efforts, click here.

CLOTHES, WATER, FOOD, AND OTHER IN-KIND DONATIONS:

At this time, The Salvation Army is not accepting in-kind donations from the general public. It is extremely difficult and expensive to ship in-kind donations overseas from the US to Japan. It is more efficient for disaster relief agencies to purchase needed resources locally and for immediate distribution with the disaster area. The best way for U.S. donors to help Japanese disaster survivors is to make a cash donation. Please note that your local The Salvation Army continues to accept donations of used clothing, furniture and other items to support local programming. Please consider donating your used items to your local Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Friday, March 11, 2011

The ongoing court battle between Deliverance Poker and two defendants – 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event final tablist Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and the parent company of Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware LLC – has heated up over the past two weeks, with a flurry of motions presented to the court. On March 1st, Judge James Nowlin of the U.S. District Court for Western Texas issued an order to refer the parties into mediation. Judge Nowlin indicated in the order that he would receive an Alternative Dispute Resolution report from the sides by March 21st and would meet with the legal teams on April 21st to determine the status of negotiations. If there isn’t a mediated agreement in the case, Judge Nowlin set a date for the case to head to trial on April 25th at 9:00am.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pokerstars Holland Representative Simon Keijzer tells Dutch TV show Jimmy Jonker is registered as a 19-year old, while he is 17 years old at the moment. Keijzer declares that an under-aged shouldn’t have played the tournament and he will not be entitled to the prize money.

This Sunday, Dutch poker player ‘zeurrr’ turned his $2 investment in half a million dollar in the special edition of Pokerstars’ Sunday Million with a total prize pool of $11 million. When the second biggest newspaper in the Netherlands -Algemeen Dagblad- wanted to interview the winner they came across something strange…

Last week, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie dropped a bombshell on our industry by vetoing a bill proposed by State Senator Raymond Lesniak that would have created the first intrastate internet gambling market in the U.S. Now, the online poker industry has had a chance to digest the veto of the bill, which sailed through both chambers of the New Jersey legislature.